Northwest Coast First Nations Sculpture

Masks, Bentwood Boxes, Totem Poles, Rattles

“Contemporary Northwest Coast art embodies a great respect for oral traditions and the carving styles of different nations, even as the artists seek to push and stretch the art form with new interpretations of traditional beings, personal visions, new ideas and new materials…. Change is necessary for any culture to survive, and the artists are a testament to the strength of their culture. As Haida artist Robert Davidson says, ‘We have lost so much that to simply sit and try to re-create the past would finish us — we must move forward to survive as a culture.’ Moreover, both the art and the culture have always been concerned with themes of transformation and regeneration, and many of the myths document a world that is ever-changing.”